Carbohydrates In Cereals: Useful Properties And Their Importance In Losing Weight

Cereals are one of the most criticized foods that have been part of the human diet for centuries. And now, when all new trends enter the global health arena, their elimination has become more popular than ever. But is this total fear of carbohydrates and gluten, which is concentrated in some of them, really justified? Who really should give up cereals, and for whom is this fraught with adverse consequences? Let's figure it out.

Useful properties of cereals

1. Grains are one of the first complementary foods a child is introduced to. They not only serve as excellent sources of energy (in addition to mother's milk), but also cover some of the needs of a growing body in minerals and elements - in particular, in iron.

   In addition, their introduction also contributes to the active development of the “adult” intestinal microflora: the population of bacteroids, one of the main representatives of gram-negative bacteria, increases. This is ensured, according to scientists, by the content in grain crops of a significant proportion of complex carbohydrates, which our microscopic residents ferment with the formation of biologically active compounds.

   The use of cereals as complementary foods is also due to their pleasant, mild taste, combined with a semi-solid texture - these properties help the baby move from liquid breast milk to a new food for him.

    

2. The effects of biological compounds concentrated in cereals have a wide range of directions: many of them have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunostimulatory effects, and also regulate the expression of several important genes. Some of them also have potentially protective mechanisms in relation to many serious pathologies: cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases.

3. Influence on the composition of the intestinal microbiota. This issue, it must be said, is still quite debatable, and there are many disagreements among scientists as to which types of grain affect which bacteria.

   For example, recent studies have shown that whole grain wheat breakfast cereal has a prebiotic effect - in other words, it is in some way food for our normal flora, actively stimulating its growth. At the same time, the consumption of rye bread, which is no less rich in dietary fiber, did not affect the composition of the microbiota in adult volunteers suffering from the metabolic syndrome: a complex of diseases that includes: arterial hypertension, impaired blood lipid spectrum, insulin resistance, and obesity.

    

   Interestingly, a 6-week diet during which overweight patients added whole grain rye and wheat to their diet also did not bring significant results: despite slightly improved markers of gut health, no changes in fecal microbiota were recorded.

   This led doctors to think about the synergy between fiber and other biological compounds that were part of whole grains: experiments clearly demonstrated that the benefits to the health of the human body went beyond dietary fiber alone.

    

Whole grain consumption has been shown in numerous studies to be associated with a significant reduction in the risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, and cardiovascular disease. In addition, it correlated with the improvement (in adulthood) of cognitive functions: learning, memory, concentration.

All these effects are mainly associated with some of the protective mechanisms that cereals are able to provide. In particular, we are talking about inhibition of inflammatory processes, maintaining intestinal health, improving the blood lipid spectrum and enhancing the insulin response.

For example, 44 overweight Iranian girls (aged 8 to 15 years) showed significant changes in a panel of inflammatory biomarkers (consisting of C-reactive protein, serum amyloid) as early as 6 weeks after including whole grains in their diet A, leptin, intercellular adhesion molecules-1).

Vitamins and minerals found in cereals

Grains are an excellent source of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. So, we already wrote that as the first product of complementary foods in most countries, pediatricians prefer cereals - and all due to the content of iron in many of them. However, unfortunately, the digestibility of the latter will be significantly less compared to the form that is concentrated in food of animal origin. However, given the growing needs of the growing body in this element, which breast milk is not able to cover (starting from 4-6 months of life), the addition of cereals makes a certain contribution in the context of the prevention of anemia in children.

While refined cereals contain only the core (endosperm), whole grain products are a whole mixture of biologically active compounds: here are micronutrients, dietary fiber, and starch with lipids.

Compare for yourself - as an example, we gave the nutritional composition of whole and refined wheat flour (per 100g of product):

So, obviously, whole grains are much more nutritious than refined ones. In addition, they contain dietary fiber - indigestible carbohydrates that are fermented in the lumen of the large intestine by resident microflora.

Calorie content of cereals

Cereals are a fairly carbohydrate product, which should be especially considered by those who suffer from insulin resistance or other metabolic disorders. Despite slower absorption (compared to simple sugars), blood glucose concentrations still rise after eating grains.

That is why many therapeutic diets and protocols imply their complete exclusion - and this, I must say, together with a comprehensive work on changing lifestyle and nutrition as such, brings considerable results in the treatment of metabolic syndrome, obesity, and hypertensive disease.

Below we have given a table that clearly demonstrates the energy value and nutritional composition of a particular crop. Of course, calorie counting is not a panacea, but rather a powerful provocative factor that makes a significant contribution to the development of neurogenic disorders in the future. However, sometimes numbers will be more convincing instead of a thousand words - therefore, if your nutritionist, say, recommended you a ketogenic diet, before condemnation and indignation, which naturally arises when you need to eliminate your favorite carbohydrate foods, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the KBZhU of some cereals.

Contraindications to the use of cereals

An absolute contraindication to the use of cereals - especially those that contain gluten - is celiac disease.

This autoimmune disease that develops in a genetically predisposed category of people is characterized by gluten intolerance, the bulk of which is concentrated in barley, rye, and wheat. The proteins contained in these cultures have a similar chemical structure: they contain the amino acids proline and glutamine, which contribute to their resistance to digestive juice enzymes and at the same time make them more susceptible to the enzyme, tissue transglutaminase, which is widespread in many organs.

Celiac disease cannot be considered as a disease of a purely digestive system: it is systemic in nature, affecting many (and very distant from the intestines) organs: skin, liver, brain and joints.

In addition, one cannot neglect the fact that usually autoimmune processes are combined with each other: for example, the risk of atrophic gastritis in patients with gluten intolerance is several times higher than in a healthy population.

Of course, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes mellitus, and psoriasis with celiac disease are based on a multifactorial etiology. However, many scientists are still inclined to the dominant role not so much of genetics as of environmental factors and nutrition: otherwise, how to explain the statistics that have grown significantly over the past decades (and in Western society - in highly developed countries) of these pathologies with an unchanged genetic basis? So, the trend towards widespread autoimmune processes in populations and the high rates of socio-economic improvements with Westernization are just a causal relationship.

Refined grains combined with simple carbohydrates, animal fat and salt are the main triggers for obesity, which in turn is an integral component of the metabolic syndrome.

Excess body weight predisposes not only to the development of numerous chronic diseases, but also to systemic inflammation: adipose tissue acts not only as an energy substrate depot, but also as an endocrine organ. It is logical that under conditions of its excessive deposition, a huge number of signaling molecules with pro-inflammatory activity are produced: among them are interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Of course, cereals alone will not lead to autoimmune pathology: an integrated approach is needed here. However, taking into account the high insulin index of some of them, their use is invariably associated with increased secretion of insulin by pancreatic cells. In addition, cereals do not give a long feeling of fullness: for example, after a bowl of porridge, hunger begins to remind of itself after 40 minutes or an hour.

It is obvious that a breakfast of oatmeal is a direct path to “nibbling” and snacking, which, in turn, disrupts the sensitivity of cell receptors to insulin - insulin resistance develops. This is the first and key step in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Returning again to cereal crops, it is impossible not to mention their influence on the body of a person who is not prone to celiac disease. Unfortunately, in the realities of the modern world, most people have to some extent (albeit sluggish) an inflammatory process in the intestines - as a rule, it is from this that the main symptoms and many complaints that are addressed to a nutritionist arise. And such patients are also advised to follow an autoimmune protocol, or at least a paleo diet. The latter, one might say, is an easier option, involving the inclusion in your diet of only the category of products that was once available to our ancestors who lived during the Paleolithic - in other words, this is a diet similar to that of cavemen.

Grains for weight loss

In general, despite the obvious need not only to reduce the caloric content of food with the parallel addition of sports to one's life, but also to significantly reduce the number of carbohydrates, scientists do not recommend eliminating this class of organic compounds completely.

This is due not only to their energy function and the inability of some organs (including the brain) to utilize fatty acids: in the case of the central nervous system, these compounds that form complexes with plasma proteins are simply unable to overcome customs control at the border of two tissues: blood and nervous.

Carbohydrates in the body are also used as a plastic material: in particular, from protein molecules that have undergone glycosylation processes, complex derivatives of two classes are formed - glycoproteins that are part of the structure of receptors in various tissues, thereby ensuring the transmission of signals from various biologically active compounds.

That minimum of carbohydrates (about 100 grams), which is indicated for both healthy and obese people, of course, should be covered not with simple sugars that instantly enter the systemic circulation, but with complex molecules with branched, long carbon chains: it is precisely such an intricate structure that necessitates their pre-enzymatic treatment in the intestinal lumen, thereby slowing down absorption.

However, not all grains - typical representatives of "long" carbohydrates - are as innocent as it seems at first glance. When choosing a side dish, it is necessary to take into account their glycemic index (GI), which shows changes in blood glucose concentration after eating a certain product. For example, in products made from white flour, as well as in semolina and corn flakes, it is dangerously high, which in the future is fraught with serious metabolic disorders.

The combination of products also plays an important role in weight gain - for example, having an average GI (50-60), oatmeal, to which a spoonful of sour cream and honey was added for breakfast, turns from a dubiously useful product into a real nuclear bomb aimed primarily , against the delicate tissue of the pancreas.

In addition, an excess of carbohydrate food is associated with the growth of the bacterial flora of the intestine. Emitting gas in the course of their life activity and during enzymatic processes, our microscopic residents contribute to an increase in pressure in the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract - and this greatly complicates the secretion of bile and pancreatic juice, leading not only to constipation, but also to digestive disorders in general.

However, if you still want to treat yourself to carbohydrates (even fast ones), “cover” their intake with fats: spread nut butter on a piece of apple, and put ghee in oatmeal. By the way, this will provide you with a much longer feeling of fullness.

How to cook cereals

Before direct cooking, cereals (as well as legumes with nuts) must be soaked: this is due to the content of phytic acid in them, which largely hinders and prevents the absorption of minerals and trace elements in the intestines. Such a manipulation, even if it does not completely inactivate this biologically active compound, will definitely provide much more complete absorption processes on the intestinal epithelial villi.

Also, don't forget the importance of rinsing your grains under running water, especially if they've been on open shelves. And for rice, this need increases several times: this crop, grown in wetlands, is fairly rich in arsenic.

For the preparation of cereals, you should choose the right dishes from the right material - this, according to chefs, is one of the key factors in preserving and giving them the desired texture and crispiness.

The use of filtered water is also important - even in the context of elementary safety. Possible bacterial contamination, the presence of chlorine (due to appropriate processing), a specific metallic taste and rigidity - all this will affect not only the dish itself, but also health in general.

Add the right amount of water - the type of future porridge depends on it.

Opt for long-cooked grains: We've already compared the nutritional value of processed and whole grains in this article.